Republicans claim Senate majority, end Democrats’ four-year hold
Republicans secured a majority in the Senate following key victories in West Virginia and Ohio. The 2024 general election results ended Democrats’ four-year majority in the chamber, with the current balance of power now at 51-49.
The Senate was previously split 50-50 for two years, with Democrats holding a narrow majority through Vice President Harris’ tie-breaking vote. This shift will impact cabinet and judicial confirmations during the next presidential administration.
Senior Senate Democrats had indicated that, had they maintained the majority, they would reconsider ending the filibuster to pass voting rights and abortion legislation.
The big question now is who will lead the majority. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is stepping down as Senate Republican leader after serving as the longest-tenured leader in history.
Three candidates are vying for the position: John Thune, John Cornyn and Rick Scott. Thune, from South Dakota, currently serves as Republican Whip, managing votes and convincing holdouts to support party priorities. Cornyn, from Texas, previously served as Whip but was term-limited, while Scott, who led the National Republican Senatorial Committee and challenged McConnell for leadership in 2022, garnered only 10 votes compared to McConnell’s 37.
At least 3 dead as Helene barrels through southeastern US
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida overnight as a major Category 4 storm, leaving at least 3 people dead and leading to massive power outages. And the Oakland A’s have played their final home game after 57 years. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.
At least 3 dead as Helene barrels through southeastern U.S.
The storm brought the anticipated life-threatening storm surge, strong winds and heavy rains. Meteorologists say just because the storm has weakened significantly, does not make it less dangerous.
Authorities in Pasco County, Florida rescued people trapped by heavy flooding. One person was killed on Interstate 4 near Tampa when a sign fell on their car, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Authorities in Wheeler County, Georgia said two people were killed when an apparent tornado overturned a mobile home. Two others died in Laurens County, according to emergency officials.
As of early Friday morning, more than one million people in Florida were without power, as were hundreds of thousands more in Georgia. Power outages linked to Helene have also been reported in South Carolina and North Carolina.
The National Hurricane Center said tropical storm conditions will be felt throughout the southeast throughout Friday, with strong, damaging winds likely to “penetrate as far inland as the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians.”
Trump says he will meet with Zelenskyy to hear ‘victory plan’
The decision comes after there was some doubt whether the meeting between the two would occur — after both Trump and Zelenskyy have been critical of each other.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian president met with both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris separately to discuss his plan to defeat Russia. Biden pledged to send billions of dollars more in missiles, drones, weapons, and supplies.
Meanwhile, Harris told Zelenskyy recent calls for Ukraine to give over some of its land to Russia are “dangerous and unacceptable,” referring to recent suggestions by Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. Both have suggested Ukraine should cut a deal quickly to end the war that’s been going on for almost three years now.
Trump has stated that if he wins the November election, he will end the Russia-Ukraine war even before he takes office.
Zelenskyy also met with members of Congress Thursday in an effort to shore up American support for the ongoing war.
DOJ expected to announce charges in alleged Iranian hack of Trump campaign
Investigators said Iran gained access to Trump campaign emails and sent files to various media outlets and the Biden-Harris campaign this summer, before President Biden dropped out of the race and Vice President Harris took over as the Democratic nominee.
Reports said multiple Iranian hackers will be charged. Sources told ABC News the Trump campaign has been informed of the charges.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams to appear in federal court
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is set to make an appearance in federal court Friday. He will be arraigned on charges including bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national.
It marked the second time this year the state has employed this controversial method.
Miller was sentenced to death in 2000 for a 1999 shooting that killed three men he had worked with, after he accused them of spreading rumors about him.
The Alabama Department of Corrections said the procedure involved Miller being fitted with a mask and nitrogen gas flowing into his system for about 15 minutes.
According to the Associated Press, Miller’s final words were, “I didn’t do anything to be here.”
The game had plenty of emotion as well as some interruptions. Somebody threw a smoke bomb onto the field at one point, and a fan ran onto the field and made a dash for it, as well.
In the end, A’s fans soaked up all the memories, staying well past the final out.
The team will now relocate to Sacramento for the next three seasons before moving to their new permanent home in Las Vegas in 2028.
Blumenthal wants Khalid Sheikh Mohammed deal scrutinized
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is calling for the plea deal given to 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be scrutinized very carefully. Blumenthal is a senior member of the Judiciary Committee and said he has not received an explanation from the Biden administration.
“I think there are interests here that may not have been represented as fairly and aggressively as they should have been,” Blumenthal said. “I champion the 9/11 families in their legal action against Saudi Arabia. There is so much here that we don’t know. We have an obligation to tell the American people about the potential complicity not only of these defendants but of Saudi Arabia and other countries.”
On July 31, the Defense Department announced Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two of his accomplices are expected to plead guilty at the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. All three were jointly charged and arraigned in 2008 and 2012. Their lawyers had previously requested they receive life sentences in exchange for the guilty plea.
Mohammed conceived the idea of using planes in the attack and received approval from Osama Bin Laden to move forward with planning.
Mohammed was subject to waterboarding and torture while in custody. The evidence collected while he was being tortured is inadmissible in court, which contributed to the years of delays.
Blumenthal said the Biden administration owes both Congress and the victims’ families an explanation for why they entered the plea agreement. He expressed concern that the families may not have been represented fairly.
“When we fight terrorists and we have them in custody, we need to hold them accountable with the kinds of penalties that really do justice to the victims,” Blumenthal said.
Republicans also condemned the deal.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s weakness in the face of sworn enemies of the American people apparently knows no bounds,” Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement. “The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are in custody. The families of their victims and the American people deserve real justice.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the move was the wrong signal at the wrong time.
“When we give a plea deal to the mastermind of 9/11 that just encourages more attacks,” Graham said. “I think it was an ill conceived idea. He’s not going anywhere. I mean, he’s held as an enemy combatant.”
Congress is in August recess and will also be out of Washington for all of October. So, if there’s going to be a public hearing on the deal, it will be at least a month out.
Alleged 9/11 mastermind agrees to plea deal to avoid death penalty
The alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attack and two accomplices reached a plea deal with prosecutors. And former President Donald Trump sparks controversy with comments made about Vice President Kamala Harris at a conference of Black journalists. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024.
Alleged 9/11 mastermind agrees to plea deal in exchange for life in prison
The alleged mastermind terrorist behind plotting the 9/11 attacks against the U.S. has pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. The Department of Defense said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his two accomplices accused of planning the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil have agreed to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison.
The pre-trial agreement allows them all to escape being sentenced to death, something that is upsetting some families of 9/11 victims. Prosecutors first notified impacted families of the plea deal reached before it went public.
BREAKING: Pentagon announces that Guantanamo that three of the five 9/11 defendants, including mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, have reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Harris is running unopposed and has already been endorsed by most of the Democratic delegates. She also picked up the endorsement of the United Auto Workers on Wednesday, July 31, giving her the support of one of the country’s largest unions.
I am honored to receive the endorsement of the United Auto Workers. From walking picket lines to taking on big banks, I have spent my entire career fighting for unions and working families—and, as President, I will continue to deliver for organized labor. https://t.co/CQc4K0YOBW
Voting on the virtual roll call ends on Monday, Aug. 5. It’s the same day Harris is expected to announce her running mate. They will then start a series of side-by-side campaigning in battleground states, with their first official event together scheduled in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Aug. 6.
On Thursday, Trump’s vice presidential pick Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, will be touring the southern border, and Harris will speak at the funeral of Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
Trump sparks controversy after questioning Kamala Harris’ racial identity
Former President Donald Trump attended a conference for Black journalists in Chicago on Wednesday, July 31, that’s creating the most buzz on the campaign trail Thursday, Aug. 1 morning. Trump made controversial remarks after being asked if he agrees with Republicans on Capitol Hill who have said the vice president was a “DEI hire.”
“Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a Black woman?” ABC News’ Rachel Scott asked him.
“Well, I can say no,” Trump said. “I think it’s maybe a little bit different. So, I’ve known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much, and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
“She has always identified as a Black woman,” Scott interjected. “She went to a historically Black college.”
“You know what, I respect either one,” Trump said “I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t. Because she was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden, she made a turn and she went, she became a Black person.”
“We all here remember what those four years were like,” Harris said. “And today we were given yet another reminder. This afternoon, Donald Trump spoke at the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists, and it was the same old show, the divisiveness and the disrespect. And let me just say, the American people deserve better. The American people deserve better. The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us. They are an essential source of our strength.”
During her daily press conference, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to Trump’s comment, saying “it’s insulting.”
The former president defended his comments on his Truth Social platform, saying the questions he was being asked were “rude and nasty” and “often in the form of a statement” rather than question.
The questions were Rude and Nasty, often in the form of a statement, but we CRUSHED IT!@realDonaldTrump Donald Trump Truth Social 03:31 PM EST 07/31/24 pic.twitter.com/wetj11CoG0
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) July 31, 2024
Some Black Republican lawmakers have also jumped in to defend him — like Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt. Hunt posted a statement on his own Truth Social account reading in part, “He stood strong in the face of vicious attacks and gotcha questions, because that’s what leaders do.”
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., also commented on the former president’s remarks in a post on X.
“Fostering tough conversations and debate is how we make America great again for all Americans,” Donalds said. “Unlike Kamala Harris, President Trump is not afraid of going into any venue, any time, anywhere.”
Unlike Kamala Harris, President Trump is not afraid of going into any venue, any time, anywhere.
Today at the NABJ Convention, President Trump took the incoming fire from hostile reporters, held firm, and articulated his plan to Make America Great Again for ALL AMERICANS. pic.twitter.com/KNEw5yaLmi
Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother. She attended the historically Black Howard University and is a member of the nation’s oldest Black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.
Meanwhile, a debate between the two remains up in the air. Trump has voiced wanting a venue change and said he “probably will” debate Harris, but could also “make a case for not.”
Report: Iran’s supreme leader issues order for Iran to strike Israel
Tensions are rising in the Middle East following the assassination of a senior Hamas leader in Iran. Hamas claims an Israeli missile hit the house of political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
The New York Times reported that with the hit happening on Iranian soil, the country’s supreme leader has reportedly issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly, citing three Iranian officials briefed on the order.
Haniyeh was the Hamas negotiator for a possible hostage deal with Israel. Many fear that deal is now dead.
The strike on Haniyeh came just hours after an Israeli airstrike killed a top Hezbollah commander in Lebanon.
Breaking this morning: The Israeli military announced it had killed top Hamas military leader Muhammad Deif during a strike in Gaza earlier in July. Deif is believed to have been one of the masterminds behind the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel.
‘Weapons and Warfare’ goes inside Lockheed Martin’s F-35 assembly facility
In 2001, the Department of Defense awarded Lockheed Martin the contract to develop the F-35 fighter jet to replace aging aircraft. The jet is manufactured in three different variants: one for the Marine Corps, one for the Air Force and one for the Navy.
In a special edition of “Weapons and Warfare,” Straight Arrow News’ Ryan Robertson recently got to take a tour inside the Fort Worth, Texas facility that makes these fighter jets.
You can find this special edition of “Weapons and Warfare” right here.
Katie Ledecky ties record for most gold medals by female swimmer
Team USA now has won five Olympic gold medals in Paris, adding one more to its count after Wednesday’s events — and it was a historic one. Swimmer Katie Ledecky won the women’s 1,500 meter freestyle. She finished more than 10 seconds ahead of her competition to win her eighth Olympic gold medal.
With the victory, Ledecky tied the record for most gold medals by a female swimmer. It was also her 12th Olympic medal of any kind, which tied yet another record.
Ledecky is not done yet. She has a chance to break those records. She’ll be competing in the 4×200 meter relay Thursday, Aug. 1, and the 800 meter freestyle later this week.
The invitation was extended by the top leaders of the House and Senate.
“The existential challenges we face, including the growing partnership between Iran, Russia, and China, threaten the security, peace and prosperity of our countries and of free people around the world,” Johnson, Chuck Schumer, D-NY., McConnell and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in the letter. “To build on our enduring relationship and to highlight America’s solidarity with Israel, we invite you to share the Israeli government’s vision for defending democracy, combatting terror, and establishing a just and lasting peace in the region.”
Initially, there was confusion over the date, but it was clarified that the address would be on July 24, avoiding the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.
The visit comes as tension grows between Netanyahu and the Biden administration. While the White House continues to support Israel’s right to defend itself, it has been critical of their army’s operations and the number of reported civilian causalities.
Some Democrats, like Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, N.Y., have expressed opposition and plan to boycott the speech.
“I am very moved to have the privilege of representing Israel before both houses of Congress and to present the truth about our just war against those who seek to destroy us to the representatives of the American people and the entire world,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Justice Alito’s controversial flags, mixed reaction from lawmakers
A recent New York Times report has ignited controversy surrounding Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s display of an upside-down American flag at his home. The flag, a traditional sign of political dissent, appeared on Alito’s front lawn in January 2021, just days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration, according the Times.
The flag incident
The upside-down flag became a popular symbol among former President Donald Trump’s supporters contesting President Biden’s victory. However, Alito maintains that he had no involvement in flying the flag in that manner. Instead, he attributes it to a dispute between his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, and their neighbors. Mrs. Alito reportedly hung the flag “for a short time” as a response to verbal attacks from neighbors, according to Alito who spoke with Fox News’ Shannon Bream.
According to their interview, the situation escalated when a neighbor put up an offensive sign personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the Jan. 6 attacks. Justice Alito and his wife engaged in a heated exchange with the neighbor, during which vulgar language was used. Alito acknowledges that some neighbors on his street are “very political,” and the incident occurred during a tense period in early 2021.
Calls for recusal
Alito’s critics, primarily Democrats, argue that the flag incident could compromise his impartiality in current cases before the Supreme Court. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called for Alito’s immediate recusal from cases related to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 insurrection.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., went further, demanding an apology from Alito for “disrespecting the American flag” and “sympathizing with right-wing violent insurrectionists.”
Republican response
Republican leaders largely dismissed the Times’ report, viewing it as part of ongoing media scrutiny of the conservative-leaning bench. While some acknowledge that the optics are unfavorable, they resist calls for recusal.
“There are nonstop attacks on the Supreme Court week after week,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. “I don’t think he should be recused, but it does create a bad image.”
Additional flag controversy
The New York Times also published a report on Wednesday, May 22, about a newly discovered photo of a white flag with a pine tree and the words “An Appeal to Heaven,” flying outside Alito’s beach house in New Jersey during the summer of 2023.
The flag has ties to Trump supporters as well. Photos show the same flag being carried during the Jan. 6 riots.
More reaction from lawmakers
The controversy surrounding the “Appeal to Heaven” flag at Justice Alito’s home has drawn significant attention and similar reactions from lawmakers on the controversy.
Dozens of Democrats have signed a joint letter urging Justice Alito to recuse himself from cases related to the Jan. 6 events. Meanwhile, Republicans double down on calling it an effort to attack conservative justices.
“Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas are totally out of control,” Jeffries said. “These individuals continue to detonate the credibility of the United States Supreme Court.”
“I think this entire hoopla is greatly overstated and I think there’s a concerted effort that is driven by Democrats in the Senate to try and delegitimize the court, demonize it, and we’re seeing it Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and I think its disgraceful,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said.
A ‘handout’ or ‘relief’? News coverage of Biden’s $7.7B student loan forgiveness
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday, May 22, that more than 160,000 borrowers will not have to repay $7.7 billion in student loans. The move is part of the ongoing debate surrounding student loan forgiveness, a topic that remains politically divisive.
This latest round of student loan forgiveness comes after the Supreme Court rejected the Biden administration’s broader loan forgiveness program last summer. The Department of Education reported that, through incremental changes made by the Biden administration, a total of $167 billion in student loan forgiveness has been approved.
However, how this news is reported varies significantly depending on the political bias of different news outlets.
Headlines from more left-leaning news outlets, including CNN and Bloomberg, emphasize “relief” in their portrayal of Biden’s actions.
Bloomberg: “Biden Widens Student Loan Relief to More Than 10% of Borrowers.”
Headlines from more right-leaning outlets, such as New York Post and Fox News, frame the student loan forgiveness as a “handout.”
New York Post:“Biden admin announces $7.7B student debt handout for 160K borrowers.”
Fox News: “Biden admin adds $7,700,000,000 to taxpayer tab with new student debt handout.”
On student loan forgiveness, there are very different political opinions which are evident by the two major political party leaders in the Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized student debt forgiveness, calling it a “scam” and arguing that it unfairly benefits those who didn’t pursue a four-year degree or worked their way through college.
On the other hand, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sees it as an opportunity to reduce the debt burden for Americans, allowing them to achieve their dreams.
President Biden released a statement following the most recent announcement of student forgiveness.
“I will never stop working to cancel student debt — no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us,” Biden said.
Republican-led states have filed lawsuits challenging those initiatives.
Congress wants to curtail ‘judge shopping.’ Can it act before the election?
There are two competing bills in the Senate to curtail “judge shopping,” which consists of efforts by plaintiffs to file lawsuits with judges who are likely to rule in their favor. Democrats and Republicans both want to address the practice, but they view the root of the problem differently and have presented differing solutions.
If an organization or individual wants to challenge a new law or agency regulation, they can file a lawsuit in federal district court. Their attorneys will first research judges around the country to see which one may be most likely to rule in their favor based on previous cases. The plaintiffs then file in that judge’s district, within their division, so there’s a strong chance their preferred judge will hear the case.
“I think it should shock the conscience of Americans that people can, in effect, choose justice by shopping for judges and do injustice by simply picking their judges according to what’s best for their individual causes,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said.
The Republican bill would put new limits on judge shopping in all cases and it has added parameters for bankruptcy and patent cases. However, the bill also bans what Republicans see as another problem: nationwide injunctions. The bill limits injunctive relief to the parties involved or people in a similar position within that district.
“Now that nationwide injunctions are being used against the Biden administration, liberal allies in the academy and in the media have started to target single-judge divisions where they think conservative plaintiffs are likely to get favorable ratings from sympathetic judges,” Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in March.
The Democratic bill would codify a rule the Judicial Conference created in March. The federal courts’ national policy-making body said in cases involving civil actions meant to bar or mandate state or federal action, judges would be assigned through a district-wide, random selection process.
“Any civil action brought … to challenge the constitutionality or lawfulness of … any provision of a Federal law on a nationwide basis, or any provision of a State law on a statewide basis … shall be randomly assigned to a judge of the district court in which the civil action is filed,” the two-page Democratic bill said.
McConnell called the rule “half baked” and wrote letters to chief judges in districts around the country, informing them that Congress decides how cases should be assigned, not the Judicial Conference.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also wrote letters but instead urged the Judicial Conference to stand by its rule.
“People like to feel that justice is fair and justice is blind,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told Straight Arrow News. “But if you have one judge who is developing a national reputation for being the go-to judge on a given political issue, it’s pretty obvious that this system of justice is broken.”
One of the most recent and well known examples of judge shopping came in the challenge to the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill, Mifepristone.
That case was filed in the Northern District of Texas at the Amarillo division, even though the organization that filed the case — the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine — is based in Tennessee. The only judge in that office is Matthew Kacsmaryk, who previously worked for the conservative First Liberty Institute and challenged the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate.
Many instances of judge shopping aren’t political. Judge Alan Albright, based in Waco, Texas, is the busiest patent judge in the country. In 2020, the Western District of Texas heard 22% of the patent cases filed nationwide, of which Albright heard nearly all.
According to Temple’s Business Law Magazine, cases are filed with Albright because he has a fast-track scheduling order that’s advantageous to patentees, and he had up until that point never invalidated a patent on eligibility grounds.
Although there’s bipartisan agreement that something should be done to end judge shopping, one of the sponsors of the Republican-led bill has serious doubts about getting something done this late in an election year.
“I’m very skeptical about any big stuff getting done for the rest of this Congress,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said. “If they’ve got a consensus bill, I’ll take a look at it. But there’s a you know, there’s a lot of activity, but there’s not a lot of productivity going on right now that I can see.”
Make energy policy boring again: Fmr. Trump official’s case for energy security
How Americans will power their lives for years to come is an issue that divides them. From fossil fuels to wind and solar, liquefied natural gas to nuclear power, debates over energy sources dominate politics.
“I don’t say this to be funny,” said Neil Chatterjee, who served as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under the Trump administration. “To me, the solution is to make energy policy boring again.”
At the tail end of former President Donald Trump’s term, Chatterjee was demoted from his position as chairman. He has said he believed it was because of his stance on clean energy.
“I’m a big believer in innovation and markets, and I would like to see more and more conservatives embrace this and not cede the field to the other side,” Chatterjee said. “The energy transition could be the single greatest monetary opportunity of our lifetime.”
Prior to his position as the nation’s top energy regulator, Chatterjee was the principal energy policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
When asked about his position on energy independence, a term with an oft-disputed meaning, Chatterjee said his real focus is on energy security and ensuring that the energy grid in the United States remains reliable.
“We know that we can have electricity when we need it, we can fuel our vehicles when we need it, we have our basic energy needs met,” he said. “That is not the case everywhere in the world and if we’re not smart in how we proceed from a policy perspective in the U.S., it might not always be the case here at home.”
In an interview with Straight Arrow News, Chatterjee identified the red flags he sees when it comes to U.S. energy policy and how to prevent the U.S. from becoming reliant on China for energy. Chatterjee also discussed the Biden administration’s conflicting energy messaging and how it disrupts investment, along with who is to blame for high gas prices.
Congress has a 12% approval rating; members are not happy with it either
Congress has a 12% approval rating, according to a recent Gallup survey. The results aren’t a surprise to anyone, especially since the legislative branch hasn’t had an approval rating above 40% since 2005.
However, it’s not just the public that isn’t happy with Congress, members of Congress aren’t happy either.
“I think there’s a couple of reasons why people are so frustrated with the Senate as it currently operates,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. “One is we’re not actually doing anything. We don’t vote on Mondays, we come in on Tuesdays, we vote in the evening and then we leave after lunch on Thursday. And this is one of the least productive Senate’s that I’ve served in.”
There’s equal frustration with the light schedule in the House.
“So fly in, fly out days, you know because we’re only here, call it maybe 10 days, 10 nights a month, 11 nights a month,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said. “You know, we’re running around, we don’t all serve on the same committees. Some people are giving speeches on the floor, the floor’s empty, no one’s here when they’re doing that.”
As per the approval rating, that same Gallup survey found that 83% outright disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job, and 5% had no opinion. Cornyn is running to be the chamber’s Republican leader and his pitch to colleagues is that he’ll fix that.
“I’ve been here when the senator has worked, where the committees have worked and where the senators had a chance to actually be a senator and represent their state and this is not it. So I think we can do better,” Cornyn told reporters.
There’s also frustration with the way in which bills are negotiated. It often happens behind closed doors and many members don’t know what’s in a piece of legislation until it gets released to the public, which is part of the reason the recent Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and border security package failed.
“This crazy idea that, you know, a handful of people can write bills behind closed doors and roll them out without adequate time to read them and debate them,” Cornyn said. “That’s not the way the Senate should operate.”
Cornyn is running against Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to be the chamber’s party leader. Whoever wins will replace Sen. Mitch McConnell R-Ky.