44 years ago today, the Supreme Court handed down an immensely important and controversial decision which reproductive justice activists have been working to protect ever since. In the case of Roe v. Wade, the court declared that a person’s decision to have an abortion was protected by the right to privacy guaranteed by the Due […]

Repealing Obamacare is a worse idea than anyone could have imagined, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office. The depth and severity of the results will be difficult to convey in headlines and soundbites. To cut through some of the likely confusion, here is a brief breakdown of what the report says. The report finds that […]

Every sworn-in House Democrat has now signed on to sponsor Rep. Elijah Cummings’ and Rep. Eric Swalwell’s Protecting Our Democracy Act, which would establish a “12-member, bipartisan, independent commission empowered to interview witnesses, obtain documents, issue subpoenas, and receive public testimony to examine attempts by the Russian government or others to use electronic means to […]

So far, the Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has been a disaster, and the latest stunt from Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and his fellow House Republicans is an utter farce. Ryan and the House leadership have placed the draft legislation in a sealed room in the basement of the U.S. […]

Following Michael Flynn’s resignation from his very brief stint as National Security Advisor, Donald Trump offered the position to retired Vice Admiral and former Navy SEAL Robert Harward. But Harward turned down the job, reportedly over concerns regarding instability in the White House and other staffing choices made by Trump. CNN’s Jake Tapper flagged a […]

At the end of the last Congressional term, Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, the ranking member of the CIA Subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, introduced legislation calling for the creation of a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate […]

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) seems to always know the right thing to say. Before Donald Trump’s inauguration, he channeled what many of us were (and still are) feeling: “I don’t see this president-elect as a legitimate president.” Now, as the resistance builds against a presidency that gets worse with every passing day, Lewis fortifies us for the fight ahead: And I […]

When House Democrats met to discuss Donald Trump’s moves toward gutting the consumer protections and financial regulations of the Dodd-Frank Act, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had strong messages for Trump. When Waters was asked about her recent comments, wherein she stated that her “greatest desire” is to lead Trump “right […]

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has been a crucial voice in calls to investigate interference in our presidential election by the Russians, and the connections and potential collusion between the Russian government and Donald Trump’s campaign and administration. And on Meet the Press, she showed that she is not about to back down: The American […]

.@SpeakerRyan's office sent 6 security guards to block delivery of 87K #IStandWithPP petitions telling Ryan not to defund Planned Parenthood pic.twitter.com/56QHwhjR2q — Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) January 6, 2017 In the first week of the 115th Congress, House Speaker Paul Ryan is already pursuing a long-time conservative goal: Defunding Planned Parenthood. As part of the […]

As House Republicans voted on the new congressional rules package for the 115th Congress, many passages drew controversy, including a provision to unconstitutionally fine legislators for taking video footage on the House floor, and an attempt to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics. But one passage made it through without attention from the corporate media: A provision that […]

With families already being torn apart as a result of Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus were looking forward to meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to discuss the current and future impact on their communities. However, ICE abruptly cancelled the meeting that had been arranged earlier this week, […]

President-elect Donald Trump has received scrutiny for his eyebrow-raising authoritarian proposals, such as stripping citizenship from political protestors and maintaining a private security force to eject anyone he pleases from his events. But he is not the only Republican resorting to authoritarian threats — House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) is joining in. In June, a group of Democratic representatives […]

Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), a Donald Trump supporter and congressman from Michigan’s second district, marshaled an unusual and absurd argument against the Affordable Care Act recently, telling a local paper that patients should be responsible for holding down costs by delaying or foregoing treatment based on costs. But even more repugnant is the story he […]

As the 115th Congress is sworn in, it is important to remember that, while Republicans maintain control over both the Senate and the House of Representatives, they will be joined by twelve new female colleagues who bring a diversity of backgrounds — and a readiness to fight — to the table. Indeed, the Democratic caucus taking […]

Rep. Paul Ryan was reelected as Speaker of the House today, maintaining his position as third in line to the presidency. During remarks following his reelection, Ryan expressed “optimism” for the impending Donald Trump presidency and waxed poetic about the patriotism of House members — despite the fact that his party endeavors to stymie efforts […]

Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) threw down the gauntlet against President-elect Donald Trump recently, declaring in an appearance on MSNBC that she has “no intention in pretending everything is alright, that we’re going to work together,” and promising, particularly in her role as a ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, that she is “going to […]

A group of former congressional staffers — Ezra Levin, Angel Padilla, and Jeremy Haile — has published a crucial guide to the coming resistance against a Donald Trump administration, providing action steps and advice for Democrats seeking ways to fight back against an authoritarian and dangerous Republican government. The hope, they write in the introduction, is for “stiffening […]

Concerned, unlike most of her Republican colleagues, about Russian interference in the U.S. election, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is again calling for a bipartisan, independent review. Elections determine the future our children will inherit. Given the alarming magnitude, seriousness and scope of Russia’s efforts to undermine U.S. elections, we must have an independent, bipartisan […]

We are in the midst of a national crisis: The U.S. intelligence community has confirmed that Russia interfered in the election, in order to help Donald Trump get elected. They now have evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin was orchestrating the interference. This was not, as Trump has suggested, just some hacker sitting on his […]

House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has issued a statement echoing Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) call for a bipartisan Congressional investigation into Russian interference in the election, urgently noting: “There must be no equivocation or ignoring the seriousness of the intelligence community’s conclusion about Russia’s actions.” Her statement is as blunt as it […]

A federal court has ordered that North Carolina’s heavily gerrymandered state districts be redrawn and that the state must hold new primaries for state-level representatives in September 2017 followed by a general election in November 2017. The case, Covington vs. the State of North Carolina, argued that race-based districting — like that in North Carolina, where […]

The party of Donald Trump may relish mocking a powerful and pioneering woman like Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), but their logic, as exemplified by Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, leaves something to be desired: What a relief. I was worried they had learned from the elections & might be competitive and cohesive again. https://t.co/cvwi0IxLdU — Kellyanne […]

Election Day is still a couple of weeks away, but that hasn’t stopped Republican lawmakers from planning their obstruction of a potential Clinton presidency. Ted Cruz fired a warning shot on the Supreme Court: Speaking to reporters after a campaign rally for a Republican U.S. Senate candidate here, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said that there was “precedent” […]

The memo issued by the DCCC’s Policy Department, recapping the 114th Congress, is brutal in its stark assessment of the failures of the Republican leadership to accomplish meaningful change on behalf of the American people. After setting a light schedule which “has the House on track to work the least number of days since 2007,” […]

Last week, the Senate voted 95-3 to approve funding for Flint’s water crisis, allocating $270 million to aid residents. That total includes $20 million to develop a national lead exposure registry. There is a catch. Supporters in the House will have to attach the allocation to some kind of must-pass spending bill to get it to President […]