House GOP defectors advance labor petition — hours after leaders begged them to stop
In yet another blow to House Republican leadership, nine GOP lawmakers broke ranks to advance debate on a discharge petition for a labor rights resolution.
The proposal, noted independent congressional reporter Jamie Dupree on X, "sets strict timelines for businesses and newly-certified labor unions working on a first contract."
It's the latest in a long line of discharge petitions either taken up for debate or adopted outright in this term of Congress, driven by razor-thin margins dividing Republicans and Democrats and a set of GOP leaders who have frequently failed to enforce party unity. Other discharge petitions include one that forced the release of the Jeffrey Epstein child trafficking case files, and another that called for a three-year extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.
All of this came just hours after House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) publicly pleaded with his caucus to stop bypassing them and signing onto discharge petitions.
"I don't support that process," said Scalise to reporters. "I mean, look, we have committees and the committees do hard work and you know, everybody's got their own bills that they might want to move and you know, as the majority leader, when people come to me and they want a bill moved, I tell them first thing I always tell them is go talk to the chairman, work through the committee process. That is what the the regular order is around here."
Despite the rapid proliferation of discharge petitions, GOP leaders insist they are still in command of the caucus, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) insisting to reporters at the end of last year that "I have not lost control."
Trump planted a bomb that is set to blow up in Republicans’ faces: GOP pollster
President Donald Trump is planting a bomb that is sure to explode in Republicans' faces during the midterms as he seeks to get Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed for the full AG role, according to one long-time GOP pollster.
Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, argued during a new episode of her podcast, "Illegal News with Sarah Longwell," that confirming Blanche as Attorney General could be difficult because of the Republicans' narrow majority in the Senate. She added that Blanche's confirmation may spark a bitter intra-party fight among Republicans over some of the baggage Blanche is bringing.
"The Blanche thing is so egregious," Longwell said. "It would not surprise me at all if Blanche gets blocked by the Senate confirmation."
Longwell noted that Republicans can only afford to have four of their own party members vote against Blanche in the confirmation battle. However, there seem to be at least five — and possibly many more — who are willing to vote against Blanche to spite the president.
Longwell added that Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) seem likely to vote against Blanche because of how the president has treated them.
She also said that there are other Republicans who are vulnerable enough politically that they may be willing to vote against Blanche with just a little pressure.
"The obvious thing to do is to start running ads in these guys' states, people who are not completely out of their minds or who are vulnerable, because this is the kind of thing Republicans will attack other Republicans over," Longwell said, noting that the ads would focus on why Blanche was willing to give convicted sex criminal Ghislaine Maxwell a sweetheart deal to move to a low-security facility.
