Congress
Justice Dems endorse Kat Abughazaleh in Illinois primary
Justice Democrats and the Peace, Accountability, and Leadership PAC, PAL PAC, have jointly endorsed progressive influencer Kat Abughazaleh in the hotly contested Democratic primary to replace Rep. Jan Schakowsky in Illinois.
In a statement, Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas described Abughazaleh as “the type of progressive leadership we need in Congress — leadership that isn’t too afraid to take on AIPAC or corporate PACs to defeat right-wing fascism or corporate corruption in the Democratic Party.”
Abughazaleh faces more than a dozen primary opponents in a March primary that’s turned into a national proxy fight. Last week, a newly formed super PAC, Elect Chicago Women, started airing ads backing state Sen. Laura Fine, and some of Fine’s opponents have accused the PAC of being funded by AIPAC.
Abughazaleh, who is Palestinian-American, has frequently criticized AIPAC and called Israel’s military operations in Gaza a genocide.
Congress
GOP leaders prepare to steamroll opponents of DHS funding plan
Conservative lawmakers are throwing up roadblocks to a GOP-only immigration enforcement funding plan. But party leaders are hitting the gas anyway, hoping to quickly flatten any skeptics as they race to meet a June 1 deadline set by President Donald Trump.
At stake is the final endgame of the 58-day-and-counting Department of Homeland Security shutdown. The Senate has passed the biggest piece of the funding puzzle, and top GOP leaders are now embarking on the multistep budget reconciliation process to sidestep Democratic opposition and fund enforcement agencies for the rest of Trump’s term.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he would pursue an “anorexic” bill narrowly focused on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Republicans hope that will allow them to skip months of agonizing infighting — as they endured before enacting last year’s tax-cuts-focused megabill.
Still, some agony looms.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) insisted Monday on spending cuts to offset the new enforcement funding. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said he wants to include money for the military and other GOP priorities. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) argued parts of a hot-button GOP elections bill should be in the mix. And across the Capitol, the House’s right flank insisted Republicans fund all of DHS through the party-line process — not just ICE and Border Patrol.
Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson are expected to discuss the path forward during their private weekly meeting Tuesday. The House is stalling for now on the bipartisan Senate-passed bill that would fund the bulk of DHS, waiting for progress on the second bill under discussion.
Even Kennedy, who said it was a “mistake” not to include parts of the SAVE America Act in any upcoming reconciliation measure, warned Thune against expanding its scope.
“If he starts making deals with individual senators … then he’ll have an avalanche on his hands,” he said. “I know a number of senators who will take a run at Thune and say, ‘Look, you’ll only get my vote if you include my stuff in it.’ Well, if he starts that, then I’ve got some of my own stuff.”
The ultimatums could start pouring in as soon as the Senate GOP’s closed-door Tuesday lunch, when Thune and Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will get the chance to talk through the plan with their colleagues.
The first step will be for Republicans to take up a budget resolution — a fiscal blueprint for the party-line legislation, which Graham’s committee could release as soon as Tuesday. That blueprint is expected to task the Senate Judiciary Committee and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with drafting legislation that would fund immigration enforcement agencies for the rest of Trump’s term.
Typically reconciliation bills include at least some attempt to offset new spending with other savings or revenue. But GOP leaders are ready to argue that won’t be necessary in this instance since it involves funding that would have gone through the appropriations process — had Democrats not insisted on enforcement policy restrictions after federal agents shot and killed two Minneapolis residents in January.
Thune also warned Monday that expanding the bill by instructing additional committees — such as the Finance panel, which deals with taxes and federal health programs — would expose Republican senators to politically tough votes that could threaten the overall package. Any amendment that is germane to a reconciliation bill and under the jurisdiction of the instructed committees is eligible for a simple-majority vote — and the minority party aims to use those “vote-a-ramas” to put the majority on the spot.
“It gets really complicated procedurally, politically, and so, you know, to execute on it — to do it with any speed — you’ve got [to] keep it really tight,” Thune said.
In a sign of just how fast Senate Republicans want to move, Graham is expected to skip a committee vote on the fiscal blueprint for the reconciliation bill, according to three people granted anonymity to describe private planning. While Graham indicated Monday he still hasn’t made a final decision, going straight to the floor would deny Budget committee members, including Scott and Kennedy, a first bite at making any potential changes.
Instead, Republicans are aiming to bring the budget resolution straight to the floor as soon as next week. That would give the House time to adopt it before both chambers are scheduled for a recess in early May, though it’s possible that timeline could slip — especially if Republicans also struggle to meet an April 20 deadline to extend a key surveillance program.
To get the budget blueprint or the subsequent reconciliation bill through the Senate, Thune can lose as many as three GOP senators, with Vice President JD Vance breaking a possible tie.
Republicans are closely watching one of their own committee chairs who will be tasked with helping write the bill, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. He didn’t say how he would handle the budget resolution Monday but told reporters that he generally supports “spending less money, not more.”
Besides the grumbling from fiscal hawks, there are also Republican senators who are skeptical of any new reconciliation bill — especially appropriators concerned that the party-line approach is encroaching on their bipartisan turf.
But GOP leaders are cautiously hopeful they will be able to move quickly after months of sparring with Democrats over immigration enforcement policy frustrated many in their ranks. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters Monday her panel has been giving “technical assistance” to Graham’s panel while lamenting the breakdown in the appropriations process.
“It obviously would have been better if we came up with a bipartisan compromise to finish up the one remaining bill,” Collins said.
But the bigger threat could be in the House, where Republicans have an even tinier majority and a more rambunctious band of ultraconservative lawmakers.
One of their ringleaders, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, reacted negatively to Thune’s “anorexic” vision for the funding bill Monday. He suggested funding all of DHS through a party-line reconciliation bill, not just ICE and Border Patrol.
“Well – he isn’t the only voice in this, is he?” Roy wrote on X. “We should move other priorities with ALL of DHS… we’re running out of time to deliver and to clean up these repeated swamp messes.”
Congress
Tony Gonzales says he will resign from House
Rep. Tony Gonzales said he plans to resign from the House Tuesday, weeks after the Texas Republican admitted to having an affair with a staff member.
“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all,” he said in a statement on X. “When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas.”
The Texas Republican, who previously announced he would not seek reelection due to the allegations, said he would resign outright just over an hour after Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California announced he would leave his seat amid his own allegations of sexual misconduct with staff.
Gonzales is facing an Ethics Committee investigation into the alleged violations, which will be closed upon his resignation. He admitted last month to having an affair with staffer Regina Santos-Aviles, who later died by suicide.
Republican leaders previously called on Gonzales to suspend his campaign, which was headed toward a runoff against conservative influencer Brandon Herrera. But in what was widely viewed as recognition of the GOP’s tiny House margin, they had not called on him to resign while they awaited the Ethics investigation to play out.
Had he not announced his resignation, Gonzales would have faced an bipartisan expulsion effort later this week.
Congress
Tony Gonzales eyed for expulsion vote after Swalwell resignation
Rep. Tony Gonzales, who has admitted to having an affair with one of his own staffers, is set to face an expulsion vote later this week despite the decision of another embattled House member to resign.
Some House members believed the Texas Republican should be sent packing alongside California Democrat Eric Swalwell, who stands accused of sexually assaulting a staff member — accusations he has denied.
Now that Swalwell has announced he intends to resign, members of both parties say they will still seek Gonzales’ expulsion this week.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who was preparing to lead an expulsion effort against Swalwell, said in an interview she would still vote to expel Gonzales: “He should resign. But he probably won’t.”
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.) plans to unveil an expulsion resolution targeting Gonzales Tuesday, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss her plans.
Speaker Mike Johnson has previously called for ethics investigations to play out in the Gonzales case, but that was before he admitted to the affair with staffer Regina Santos-Aviles, who later died by suicide, and announced he would not seek reelection.
A independent congressional investigation separately found “substantial reason to believe” Gonzales had violated House rules with the relationship. An official Ethics Committee investigation is pending.
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