A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Reckoning A-Comin’?
Democratic leaders are reportedly looking at punishing far-right Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) after he posted an anime-style video depicting him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) over a week ago, including a censure or even stripping him of his committee assignments, according to multiple outlets.
- Ocasio-Cortez told Punchbowl last night that the House was looking into “a real consequence” for Gosar, and that she believes there’ll be more discussions about it over the next 48 hours.
- More than 60 House Democrats have already signed a resolution to censure Gosar.
- Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger are the only Republicans who’ve indicated that they would censure the Arizona lawmaker. Cheney even called Gosar an “avowed white supremacist,” which … you go ahead and decide if that’s true or not.
- House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) finally publicly commented on the video yesterday. He told reporters that he called Gosar, who took the video down, and that Gosar “made a statement.” [Yeah, Gosar’s statement consisted of him defending the video, claiming it was about immigration and insisting that people were just overreacting.]
Portman Bearhugs Trump At BIF Signing
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) was one of the handful of GOP senators who were brave enough to attend Biden’s official signing of the bipartisan infrastructure bill yesterday in the face of Trump’s ongoing temper tantrums over the legislation.
- Portman gave a shoutout to Trump for the bill’s success in his speech at the signing yesterday. The senator claimed that Trump had made infrastructure “a real priority” in his administration, “furthered the discussion” on the issue and thus “helped Republicans like me think differently about the positive impact of investment in core infrastructure.”
- Trump, whose infamous “infrastructure week” shockingly went nowhere, tried to sabotage the infrastructure deal. He’s threatened “lots of primaries” against Republicans who would vote for it, claiming that the bill’s success would be a “victory” for Democrats.
Wyoming GOP No Longer Recognizes Cheney As Republican
The Wyoming Republican Party voted to stop recognizing Cheney as a member of the GOP on Saturday for criticizing Trump.
- The vote is symbolic and doesn’t actually strip her of any power.
- The Wyoming GOP already censured Cheney in February for voting to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
- It should probably go without saying, but Cheney voted with Trump almost all the time when he wasn’t siccing his bloodthirsty supporters on the Capitol: By FiveThirtyEight’s count, she voted for his policies more than 93 percent of the time when he was in office.
GOPer Involved In 2020 Election Steal Gambit Becomes Freedom Caucus Leader
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), the MAGA congressman who was allegedly directly involved in Trump’s attempt to use the Justice Department to steal the 2020 election, was elected as the House Freedom Caucus chair yesterday.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee found in its sweeping investigation last month that Trump used Perry to pressure then-former Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue into investigating the election results in Pennsylvania.
- Perry allegedly called Donoghue at Trump’s direction on Dec. 27 and claimed with zero evidence that there were “things going on in Pennsylvania” with the vote tallying process that ought to be investigated.
Beto Announces Gubernatorial Bid
Beto O’Rourke, former Democratic presidential/senatorial candidate and stander of bar counters, announced yesterday that he’s running for Texas governor against incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
- O’Rourke’s announcement video put a heavy emphasis on the Texas power crisis of February (the one Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) ran away from for a vacation in sunny Mexico).
- Abbott was already preparing for this: The governor’s reelection campaign started putting out attack ads against O’Rourke last month, as Politico notes.
Dem Prepares To Replace Leahy
Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) has been privately telling colleagues that he’s running for outgoing Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) seat in the 2022 midterms, according to Axios.
Must-Reads
“The Police Fatally Shot a Young Girl. Two Teenagers Are Charged With Murder.” – The New York Times
“It’s Not Just White People: Democrats Are Losing Normal Voters Of All Races” – The Intercept
Texas Dem Switches To GOP
Texas state Rep. Ryan Guillen announced yesterday that he’s running for reelection as a Republican.
- His decision came after the Texas GOP redrew the state’s district map that solidified his already Republican-leaning district as solidly red, according to the Texas Tribune.
- Guillen, who was already apparently the least liberal Democrat in his chamber, denied that his decision had anything to do with the new map. During his announcement, the lawmaker claimed his switch was in response to the “defund the police” activist movement, immigration and Democrats’ clean energy push.
Finally, A Deadline For CBO BBB Score
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will release its final analysis of the cost of the Build Back Better plan in the reconciliation bill by the end of Friday, the agency announced yesterday.
- Five moderate Democrats in the House have demanded a score from the CBO by that date before they’ll vote on the legislation:
- Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ)
- Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL)
- Rep. Ed Case (D-HI)
- Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY)
- Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
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